Ghostly Inhabitants of Maryland

Hampton House is located just ten miles north of Baltimore in Towson, Maryland on an estate that originally included 2000 acres. Hampton House was built by successful businessman Charles Ridgely. He started building in 1783 and completed the house in 1790 just before he died. The house is considered to be the largest and most magnificent Georgian mansion of the post-Revolutionary War. On the estate, there are over 20 buildings including slave quarters.

The mansion has a two-and-a-half-story main section capped by a cupola and flanked by one-story wings. Charles Ridgely’s nephew Charles Carnan Ridgely became the 2nd master of Hampton House and was the governor of Maryland (1815 – 1818). He made improvements such as formal gardens and horse stables. Together he and his wife had 11 children.

Members of the Ridgely family lived here until 1948 when the Avalon Foundation bought it and eventually passed it on to the Federal Government and the mansion became a national historic site. In 1979 the National Park Service took over administration of the mansion and the surviving 60 acres.

Priscilla Ridgely the wife of Charles Carnan Ridgely took little interest in her 11 children. She suffered from mental depression and spent most of her life secluded in her room. Priscilla died a very unhappy woman. She has been seen by visitors and staff in a gray dress wandering through the mansion.

One day a new bride of one of the descendants heard a tapping on the front door. Opening the door she saw a “frail woman” dressed in a plain dress and cap. Since the woman wore no coat the young bride invited the woman in to warm herself by the fire. Suddenly she turned and vanished into thin air leaving the hostess very bewildered.

In the 1800s Cygnet Swan who was the daughter of Governor Swan came to stay at Hampton House to recover in the country air from a serious illness. She was a blue-eyed, blond-haired young woman. Governor Swan’s wife Eliza adored her. One morning Cygnet came to breakfast pale, tired, and with matted hair. She had had a terrifying dream of a man with a scythe chasing her through a wheat field, telling her he was going to kill her. Eliza comforted Cygnet and told her to relax on the porch. Eliza then decided to throw a party to cheer the girl. When Cygnet failed to come down for the party a servant found her slumped over her dressing table clutching her hair brush. Cygnet was dead. The doctor called her death “mysterious.”

Cygnet has been seen by visitors, family members, and staff over the years in her old northwest bedroom, combing her hair and wearing a satin ball gown. From her bedroom harpsichord music can be heard.

The Ridgely family had a faithful butler named Tom. He was born at Hampton House and died there around the late 1890s-1900s. One cold January afternoon during the 1920s or 30s a young woman who had been invited by the Ridgely’s to drop by and see their house went for a visit. The door was opened by a butler who told her that the family had gone out for the day. However, he said he would be glad to give her a tour of the house. The butler showed her around, told her of the family history, and identified family portraits. Afterward, the woman wanted to give him a tip but he said, “I need for nothing.” Several days later the woman called Mrs. Ridgely to tell her how she had appreciated the butler showing her around. Mrs. Ridgely informed her that they had no butler at the moment. She however was able to identify the woman’s tour guide as their old butler Tom who had died 30 years ago.

Other happenings have been doors opening around the mansion at midnight. Latches have been heard to be lifted, bolts are withdrawn, and even the scrape of the iron bar that opens the main door to the Great Hall.

At the stables in the old tack room where the windows and doors are kept tightly closed staff members have heard chains being beaten against the walls and they have seen saddles and harnesses swinging back and forth. Some say that the original carpenter of Hampton House Jehu Howell may be haunting the tack room. In November of 1787, he got paid $6,000 and 68 quarts of rum for his work. After getting roaring drunk he rode his horse into a rain-swollen river and both drowned.

Once the Great Hall was used for an exhibition. The Ranger on duty heard a great crash. In the hall, he discovered that all the display racks had been thrown against the floor. Over the 150 years that the Ridgely’s lived at Hampton House the death of the first ladies was foretold by the sound of a chandelier crashing although no chandelier actually fell. One Easter this occurred to the 5th Mrs. Ridgely. She died within 24 hours of the sound of the crash.

Being away from home when he died the Master of Hampton House arrived home in a ghostly coach. Charles Ridgely IV was in Italy on vacation. One, cold snowy night the caretaker of Hampton House was awakened by the tingling bells of a sleigh and the thudding hooves of a coach arriving. Looking out the door she saw nothing. The next day came the news of Ridgely’s death.

Spirits Aboard the USS Constellation

The USS Constellation Ship and Constellation Center Museum is located on Pier 1 in the Fort McHenry Shipyard in Baltimore Harbor, Maryland.

The USS Constellation is a 176-foot, large sailing ship, which was the first ship of the US Navy, that was built in 1797 as a frigate. It was one of six ships that were commissioned to protect American shipping from "marauding freebooters," who were making American shipping abroad an unsafe endeavor. The ship had a wooden hull, with three main masts and 36 guns. Designed with sharp bow lines, made it a speedier ship, which earned its nickname, "Yankee Race Horse."

In 1853 the ship was rebuilt as a sloop of war. Over the next 100 years, this ship fought against the French, various gangs of Pirates, slave traders, and other unsavory Barbary corsairs. It served in 5 major wars, from the Civil War through World War II. Finally retired in 1955, and permanently docked in Baltimore.

Aboard this ship, many men died a violent death serving their country. Some died at the hands of fellow sailors. Both of these kinds of deaths have been known to cause restless spirits.

The manifestations of the ghosts aboard this ship are known to be most active around midnight, especially between December 25th and New Year's Day. The smell of gunpowder proceeds the physical manifestations. The first sightings started as soon as the USS Constellation was decommissioned and permanently docked in Baltimore in 1955. The crew on the Navy submarine, Pike, which was moored next to The USS Constellation, saw ghost lights, heard strange noises, and even saw apparitions walking or floating around the ship's decks.

The ghost of Neil Harvey has sometimes been seen on the orlop deck, below the main deck. He was court-martialed for cowardice in 1799. Due to the fact that he left his assigned station at his gun in fear during a battle with the French, on February 5, 1799, where the 36-gun French frigate Insurgente was engaged and captured.

As a result, he was not only convicted for being a coward but also for being a traitor, Lieutenant Starrett started off Harvey's punishment by sticking him with his sword. Wounded, but still alive, Harvey was then executed in the traditional brutal way, used by both the British and Americans of this era. They tied him to the front of a cannon and blew him to bits, by order of Captain Thomas Truxtun himself. Harvey appears as a shimmering mass, perhaps because he was blown to bits. Maybe now he is trying to find a way to clear his name.

Captain Thomas Truxtun was an experienced officer from the Revolutionary War, who was made the first commander of the USS Constellation from 1798-1801. He wrote the book, concerning the drill manual and tactical methods, which became a mainstay of Navy procedure. The USS Constellation had many important victories under his leadership. He may be the officer whose entity is seen in an old navy uniform and who makes constant appearances on the forecastle deck.

Lieutenant Commander Allen Ross Brougham, on board the Pike, took a picture of one entity of an 18th or 19th-century officer that was described as having a "bluish-white radiancy," wearing an old fashioned uniform, with gold stripes on his trousers, wearing a cocked hat and carrying a sword.

The ship's 20th-century watchman was Carl Hansen until 1965. He felt a strong bond with this ship. In his younger days, he was a Royal Navy cook. The ghost of Carl Hansen likes to play cards, and will cheerfully give tours to unsuspecting people, such as a priest who thought he was a real person. At a Sea Scout Halloween Party, he sat next to a young girl and smiled at her.

The spirit of an eleven-year-old boy has also been seen. He was the surgeon's assistant aboard the USS Constellation in 1820-1822. He was murdered by two other sailors with a knife in the cockpit of the orlop deck, according to Sybil Leek, a psychic with Hans Holzer.

There was a sailor who had become so overwhelmed by the awful conditions aboard the ship that he hung himself. He’s seen as a sad entity who floats around and across the gun and forecastle decks.

Famed parapsychologist Hans Hozer and psychic/medium Sybil Leek did an investigation and discovered there were spirits aboard the ship.